In part 1, we focused on the advantages Facebook gives advertisers. But not everyone uses Facebook. Plus, there are other aspects of Facebook that are disadvantages when compared to traditional media. In this installment, we will talk about what traditional media can do that Facebook cannot, and how traditional media and Facebook can work together.
Currently there are about 160,000,000 US Facebook accounts, but not all of these accounts are active. Some may be dummy accounts created for business accounts that require a personal account associated with it, as per Facebook’s requirements. This means at least half the country does not have a Facebook account. So how do you reach these people?
Traditional Media Can Reach People Missed on Facebook
As you can see in the PEW Research statistics on all Internet users who have a Facebook account, the Facebook audience skews toward younger people and women. So of the people missed on Facebook, the highest percentage of those missed are men and older people, which is a significant number of people being missed if you rely only on Facebook.
Internet Users With a Facebook Account
If your target audience is older men, Facebook may not be your best medium, while newspaper, certain radio formats and TV programs may be a better way to reach this demographic.
Traditional Media Can Reach Large Audiences Fast and Timely
Other advantages traditional media can offer are faster delivery of large audiences, timing of the message and more detailed and potentially impactful messages. An example of the need to reach a large audience quickly would be doing something like a three-day sale where you need to reach a large number of people in just a few days. If you are only using Facebook, in just a few days you may only reach a small portion of your Fans. Facebookâs strength is its ability to reach your best prospects over time. It may take you at least a week or two to reach the equivalent of your entire fan base. However, with traditional media, you can reach very large numbers of impressions very quickly depending on factors such as the number of ads you run each day on the radio, TV, or newspaper; the impact of a newspaper ad may vary based on factors such as where it is placed in the paper, color, and size.
Traditional Media Can Help Build Your Facebook Fan Base
Traditional media is also a great way to help build your Fan base on Facebook. Using your radio, TV, newspaper, billboard, or whatever media you choose, you can send people to your Facebook page. When you promote your Facebook page on other media, you should give people a reason to like you when they visit your page. A good way to do this is with sweepstakes or special discounts that can only be accessed when people like your page. This would require special third party programs to enable your Facebook page to hide and reveal pages based on whether or not the viewer has liked your page.
Traditional Media and Facebook Can Work Together
If you have been advertising for a while, you may remember hearing the term media mix. Over the past ten years or so, as the Internet and other new media has gained more acceptance, many people have forgotten about the importance of a media mix. There are a number of reasons why a media mix can be very important. First, keep in mind Facebook is more of a social media than an advertising media. As a social media, it enables you to develop top-of-mind awareness with your best potential customers in a very positive way. Use Facebook to increase top-of-mind awareness while your using traditional media to promote. Remember, even Facebook only reaches less than half of the population at best. And if you are targeting older men, the reach on Facebook just may not be enough. Another reason for having a media mix is for repetition. You may have heard the word reach and frequency used together when talking about two of the most important factors in advertising. Reach is the number of people who get your message. Frequency is the number of times they get it. It is obvious, the more often someone is exposed to your message, the more chance they will remember it and respond to it.
Since people use more than one media, the right media mix can help increase frequency and reach. An example may be something like this: You post something on Facebook in the morning. Some of your fans see it. Then they head to work and hear your ad on the radio in the car. You not only reached them twice, you reached them two different ways, potentially enhancing awareness. There are many ways traditional media can generate a synergy with Facebook depending on the media. Print media can use QR codes, or soon to come, Augmented Reality to connect print with Facebook, or any digital media. Radio or TV can tie on-air contests to your Facebook page.
Ultimately, few advertisers should try to rely solely on one media. While Facebook can yield impressive results all by itself, in most cases, whatever success you can get from Facebook can be significantly amplified with a well-designed mix between Facebook and traditional media.
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